ALLEGED DESERTION.
WELLINGTON, September 17. The Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) informed a Post reporter this morning that inquiries were being made into the case of Samuel Edward Fitzgerald, who was sen tenced to 12 months' imprisonment as a deserter by a military tribunal, which had since been said to bo illegally constituted. Before his arrest,(in 1915) Fitzgerald volunteered, but was turned down as medically unfit. He then went to sea. and was cailed up in the first ballot while absent from New Zealand. In March he was tried by a District Court-martial, and was sentenced to ■>2 months' imprisonment. His claim was that ho wanted to go into camp, but iiad ijcen refused by the medical authorities. Tbo case wu.s lefcred to in the House of Representatives to-night by Mr Brown. The L'rime Minister asked members to suspend judgment for the present When the Expeditionar3' Forces Bill was again before the House the Minister of Defence would make a full explanation.
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Otago Witness, Issue 3314, 19 September 1917, Page 19
Word Count
163ALLEGED DESERTION. Otago Witness, Issue 3314, 19 September 1917, Page 19
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